The Korea Herald

소아쌤

PyeongChang to hold Olympic bid presentation in Togo

By 김소현

Published : June 22, 2011 - 21:19

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PyeongChang, a South Korean candidate for the 2018 Winter Olympics, will hold a bid presentation before International Olympic Committee (IOC) officials next week in Togo, its bidding committee said Wednesday.

The committee said PyeongChang's two rivals, Munich in Germany and Annecy in France, will also present at the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA) General Assembly next Tuesday. The committee added it will be the candidates' final joint presentation before the IOC votes on the host city at its General Assembly on July 6 in Durban, South Africa.

PyeongChang, an alpine town located about 180 kilometers east of Seoul, is bidding to host the country's first Winter Games. It came up short in two earlier bids, narrowly losing to Vancouver, Canada for the 2010 Games and to Sochi, Russia for the 2014 edition.

PyeongChang officials said Kim Yu-na, an Olympic gold medalist in ladies' figure skating and an honorary ambassador for PyeongChang, will be a presenter. Joining her will be Cho Yang-ho, head of the bidding committee, and Park Yong-sung, president of the Korean Olympic Committee (KOC).

PyeongChang has built its case around running a compact, athlete-friendly Olympics with all venues within 30 minutes of each other, and on building a new legacy for winter sports in Asia.

Japan remains the only Asian country to have hosted the Winter Olympics -- 1972 in Sapporo and 1998 in Nagano.

The candidate cities last held a joint presentation in May at the IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.

There are 110 vote-wielding IOC members, but those from candidate cities' countries plus the IOC President Jacques Rogge aren't eligible to vote.

Rogge can only vote in case of a tie in the final round of balloting. (Yonhap News)